Washington Bikes legislative preview this Thursday

The Washington legislature's long legislative session starts next Monday. This is set to be an important session as lawmakers modify Governor Inslee's proposal for the biennial budget.

If you were wondering what Washington's statewide bicycle advocacy organization is planing to push for during this session, Washington Bikes is hosting a Lunch and Learn" session this Thursday at noon to discuss their policy priorities.

Those priorities, from Washington Bikes, are:

• Grow bike and pedestrian funding in the multimodal account in the transportation budget. Washington Bikes is supportive of new, flexible revenue sources for active transportation.
• Protecting and connecting trails statewide. We support the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program's $140 million funding request.
• Support policies to address inequities in transportation and policing, including measures to decriminalize biking and walking.
• Support measures that will incentivize or lower the barrier to e-bike ownership.

Governor Inslee's budget already includes an additional $20 million for bike & pedestrian grants, and it looks like there are going to be dueling proposals for a big transportation package that could increase that amount over longer than the next two years.

Legalizing the safety stop" was a high priority item on Washington Bikes' 2020 agenda, with the legislature passing the law that allows people on bikes to treat stop signs as yield signs if there are no other vehicles present; it took effect last October. Oregon's version of the law has been in effect for a year now.

RSVP for the Thursday lunch event here.